Environmental and community campaigners have urged a top UN body to intervene in Scotland’s planning system, after repeated calls for equal rights of appeal have been ignored by the Scottish Government.
Campaigners from Planning Democracy, Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland, have submitted a formal complaint to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC), a UN body tasked with upholding environmental rights.
The complaint argues that planning appeal rights in Scotland are not ‘fair’ and therefore in breach of international law on access to justice for the environment. They point to a ruling by the Committee in Northern Ireland concluding that a lack of equal rights was in breach of the Convention, and argue that similar recommendations must now be applied to Scotland to spur reform.
The appeal to the UN follows over a decade of civil society campaigning and the passage of two planning bills, both of which failed to address the issue. An amendment proposing to introduce equal rights of appeal under the 2019 Planning (Scotland) Act was voted down by SNP and Conservative MSPs.
Currently, only applicants (usually developers) enjoy appeal rights if planning permission is refused.
Members of the public and NGOs do not enjoy equivalent rights to appeal if a development is approved, even if the development will negatively impact on health and the environment, or if the decision-making process was flawed.
The only option available to affected communities and individuals is to go to court via a judicial review, which the Convention’s governing bodies have already ruled is ‘prohibitively expensive’.
Campaigners are calling for the Scottish Government to introduce legislative reforms to achieve equal rights of appeal.
Clare Symonds, Chair of Planning Democracy, said; “Giving communities rights of appeal is about justice and fairness. It should be a given that decisions that fundamentally affect our future and the environment can be contested by those who will be most affected.
“It is clear that the Aarhus Compliance Committee’s Northern Ireland ruling agrees with our perspective that for developers to have right to challenge a decision at no cost, when communities have no such privilege, is unfair and a breach of international law on environmental decision-making.
“The situation regarding appeal rights in Scotland is the same and we expect the ACCC to find in our favour and hold the Scottish Government to account.”
Benjamin Brown, Policy & Advocacy Officer at Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, said: “As it stands, Scotland’s planning system is rigged in favour of developers.
“Through ignoring calls to introduce Equal Rights of Appeal in planning decisions, the Scottish Government has missed a vital opportunity to empower communities and protect our environment. It must now act to reform the planning process, so that communities impacted by poorly considered planning decisions can have their voices heard.
“As we work towards including the right to a healthy environment in the new Human Rights Bill, equal rights in planning cannot be forgotten.”
Mary Church, Head of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “It’s an absolute scandal that communities and NGOs can’t appeal against developments that harm the environment, while developers can wage a war of attrition through appeals and repeat applications if their proposal gets knocked back.
“This lack of equal rights undermines the planning system and leads to decisions that are bad for people and planet. The Scottish Government shouldn’t wait for the UN to rap its knuckles again, but should take action to level the playing field as part of its agenda to enshrine human rights in Scots Law.”
Aedan Smith, Head of Policy and Advocacy at RSPB Scotland, said: “It is essential that individuals and communities have the ability to challenge harmful decisions, especially those that would make the nature and climate emergency worse.
“We would hope that this ability would not need to be used very often, but it is important that decision makers can be held to account in a way that is fair.”
